Personal

It’s been more than a month since the last post and you might be wondering – what’s up with SqlJason? Well, let me tell you that the last one month has been really busy and I thought of filling you guys in with some of the juicy stuff that’s been happening! 1) Speaking EventsLast year April was when I started my first speaking assignment in the USA and it was great to have so many different opportunities to present last year. This year April also turned out to be the starting month for my presentations, and I can’t believe that I already presented at five different places this month. The PASS BA Conference was the first stop, and this was my first experiencing presenting in a big stage. Looks like it went good from the session evaluations (got a 4.6, my session ranks in the top 15 out of the 60+ sessions in the conference) The attendance was also pretty decent, managed to pull in 98 people which is the highest I have ever got in any of my sessions. I had lots of fun with my #sqlfamily and also got to meet a lot of new people. Overall, a very fun experience and I am definitely going to attend PASS BA Conference next year. Next stop was SQL Saturday Chicago and this was just the next day after PASS BA Con. After all the partying and the awesome speaker dinner at the previous night, speaking was always going to be difficult task but luckily, everything including the demos went fine. I also got to see some great sessions by Mark V & Doug Lane, Julie Koesmarno, Leonard Murphy. In short, another great experience and a very well organized event. Next on the list was SQL Saturday Jacksonville which took place 2 weeks after the Chicago event. The Jacksonville event was one of my favourites from last year and it turned out to be even better this year as it was the first time all four of us CBIGbuddies (me, Javier, Melissa and Rafael) got selected to speak at the same event. And I must say Jacksonville didn’t disappoint me, great crowd as usual and highly interactive (and very generous with the session evals too hehe). A couple of days later, I started off for my first user group speaking event of the year – Triad SQL BI User Group at Winston Salem. A big thanks to the user group leaders (Katherine Fraser and Doug Purnell) for giving me the opportunity, really enjoyed interacting with the user group members there. The next speaking event was the Carolina Code Camp 2013 which was in Charlotte itself (finally a home event! ). Unlike the other four events, the majority of the attendees was from a non-SQL Server background. So it was fun speaking to a different profile of attendees and I must say that this was one of those sessions where the attendees laughed at all of my jokes (either they got all of my jokes or were being REALLY nice with me ). I remember someone saying that event speaking is really addictive, I couldn’t agree more! Just to prove that, I have 2 more events coming up in the next week:- a) SQL Saturday Atlanta – I will be speaking on the topic “GeoSpatial Analytics using Microsoft BI” at 1 pm, this weekend. This is going to be another really great event with registrations hitting record levels for a SQL Saturday (800+ including waiting list). If you are coming for the event, definitely drop by and introduce yourself, I would love to meet you. b) Mariner Webinar – If you are not able to attend my session at SQL Saturday Atlanta, don’t worry. I am doing the same session (“GeoSpatial Analytics using Microsoft BI”) as a Webinar for my company – Mariner on May 21, 2013 12:00 PM-01:00 PM Eastern. You can register for this FREE event by clicking on this link – Click to Register2) CBIG Updates As some of you recall, me and three others (Javier, Melissa and Rafael) started a new BI user group this year in Charlotte – CBIG. We are having a great run with attendees steadily increasing from 35 in the first meeting to 50+ in the last meeting (65 being the highest as of now). Even though five meetings are too early to call the user group a success, the popularity of CBIG is evident from the 87 registrations (including waiting list) we received in our fifth meeting (where our seating capacity is only 60). We had already moved from the initial meeting room after our second meeting (where our seating capacity was 30) and now, due to the increasing number of registrations, we are moving our venue from New Horizons to the Microsoft Campus (which has a seating capacity of 85) in July. That said, the numbers are secondary. The primary aim for us is to cultivate a culture in CBIG which mainly revolves around the community spirit as well as a passion for technology. If you are in or around Charlotte, don’t miss out on our user group meetings on the first Tuesdays of every month. We have got meetings lined up till September as of now and the RSVP links can be found at http://charbigroup.com/. Also, don’t hesitate to contact me if you want to speak at our user group, we are always looking for speakers! 3) SQL Saturday Charlotte – BI Edition Announced And yes, we have also announced the date for SQL Saturday Charlotte – BI Edition. The event will take place on Saturday, October 19, 2013 (which happens to be the Saturday after the PASS Summit 2013, which also is in Charlotte). The planning is going on full steam and we are confident that we will have a great event laid out for all of you guys. Ensure that you register today to extend your PASS Summit 2013 experience. 4) And now the BIG one – Personal Updates For those of you who know me personally, this might be old news. And for the others, you might recall me saying at the start of the year that I might not match up to my previous year’s activities this year due to personal reasons. Well, the personal reason is given below. Yups, I am going to be a father to a baby girl this August 12 and I have no shortage of adjectives to describe my condition right now – excited, anxious, nervous, hyperactive, charged and so on. I am looking forward to those sleepless nights and all the other joys that come with parenthood. For the moment, I am going to stop writing and enjoy a good night’s sleep when I can.

No, the world didn’t end in 2012 as many expected (looks like the Mayan developer was just damn lazy and decided to take a nap after entering till 2012 in the calendar. Guess who got fired after that!). It took a few days for me to get over the disappointment that I really have to pay off my car loan now, lucky I didn’t get a Ferrari thinking the world would end. Jokes apart, 2012 has been a good year for me and I thought of noting down a few things that happened over the last year and setting new goals. 1) New blog domain – www.SqlJason.com and Twitter handle – @SqlJasonI finally took the plunge and bought my blog a new domain. I had been thinking about this for a long time and finally did it in November. This also meant that my blog lost it’s existing page rank and my stats have fallen down, but I guess it is going to pay off in the long run. On the positive side, it’s much easier to communicate my blog url in presentations. So for all my readers, make sure that you update the links from www.road-blogs.blogspot.com to www.SqlJason.com. I have set up a redirect from the old url to the new one, so the existing links will also work. I also changed my twitter handle from @de_unparagoned to @SqlJason. This means that I don’t get questions anymore on what de_unparagoned means. Also, makes communicating it easier. 2) Presentations and TalksThis year was crazy in terms of the presentations that I did. When I came to the US this year, I had a goal to do more presentations than I did in the previous year (which was 2 – one for the London UG and one for SQLBits). Well, I am happy to say that I presented in 8 SQLSaturdays, 1 Code Camp, 1 BI Virtual Chapter and 1 UG. 1. Dec 08, 2012 – SQLSaturday #173 (Washington DC 2012)2. Sep 29, 2012 – SQLSaturday #149 (Minnesota 2012)3. Aug 04, 2012 – SQLSaturday #158 (New York City 2012)4. Jul 21, 2012 – SQLSaturday #122 (Louisville 2012)5. Jun 26, 2012 – PASS BI Virtual Chapter (online)6. Jun 09, 2012 – SQLSaturday #121 (Philadelphia 2012)7. May 12, 2012- SQLSaturday #129 (Rochester 2012)8. May 05, 2012- Carolina Code Camp (Charlotte 2012)9. Apr 28, 2012 – SQLSaturday #130 (Jacksonville 2012)10. Apr 21, 2012 – SQLSaturday #118 (Madison 2012)11. Apr 19, 2012 – Charlotte User Group (Charlotte 2012) Thanks to all the organizers and attendees, I got a lot of love from all of you and it was a wonderful experience (in fact I got selected at all of the SQL Saturdays that I submitted to). I intend to keep on doing more of SQL Saturdays in 2013 though I am not sure whether I can match up to the previous year because of personal reasons. One of my other goals would be to prepare better and start trying for the big conferences like PASS Summit, PASS BA Conference, etc though I am not sure how that will turn up due to the immense quality of presentations and speakers. 3) BloggingBlogging has also been pretty consistent and I wrote 33 posts – one more than I did last year. From a numbers perspective, I had 112,614 page views this year (which is a big jump as I just have ~178,000 page views totally) and this is excluding the views that I get from my syndicated posts at other sites like www.BeyondRelational.com, www.ssas-info.com, etc. Also, my feedburner reader count has almost doubled to 350+ which is good. My goal for this year would be to write at least one post more than the previous year. 4) Organized a SQLSaturday and started a new User GroupThis year, I was able to get more involved with the community and I ended up organizing a SQL Saturday in Charlotte along with Javier Guillen, Rafael Salas and Melissa Coates. This was a great experience and all of us had a lot of fun doing that. We also started a new BI group in Charlotte – CBIG (www.CharBIGroup.com) and our first meeting will take place next week. If you live in or around Charlotte, make sure that you register and drop in for our fun meetings. 5) MSDN ForumsI started my community involvement through the MSDN forums 3 years back and that is where I discovered my passion for MSBI and community in general. This is one part where I would like to keep going and helping as far as I can. I had set a goal for myself to break the 10,000 points barrierthis year and I am glad to say that I did it by participating in the SSRS, SSAS and PowerPivot forums. I got 2300+ points this year (total of 10,100+ points) from 140+ answers and though it is nowhere near to the points I racked in my first year, I think this is a reasonable target for next year due to the additional community involvement. 6) PASS SummitAttending the PASS Summit was one of my goals ever since I started knowing about this community, and again, I am happy to say that I did it this year for the very first time, thanks to my employer – Mariner, who sponsored it for me. It was such a wonderful experience meeting #sqlfamily and attending sessions (in fact I registered for the coming PASS Summit also, which is going to be held in the city that I am based out of – Charlotte). 7) Certifications – MCSE in SQL Server BI 2012Thanks to the beta invitations, I was able to complete my MCSE certification in BI 2012. There were 5 exams which included some basic DBA topics (which I am not at all familiar with) but guess what, I ended up passing all of those exams in my first try itself. You can read more about my certification experience here. All in all, 2012 was a great year for me and I hope 2013 is going to be kind on me… And also for all of you…

There has been a lot of things happening in my life recently. For example, yesterday was my first wedding anniversary, I was speaking at SQL Saturday 122 (Louisville, KY) in the weekend, last Monday I finally took my road test and got my driving license in the USA, and tons of other stuff which you would be least interested in. And the week before last, I managed to pass my 70-462 exam, which makes me a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) in the BI track now; I thought at least some of you who are thinking of going through the certifications might be interested to know about my experience.

You must have already heard about the new certification structure from Microsoft and there are tons of blogs out there which talk about this change. For the SQL Server 2012 certification, you have the MCSA (similar to MCTS for SQL 2008) and MCSE (similar to MCITP for SQL 2008) now. The MCSE has two tracks – SQL Server and BI and I would be talking only about the BI track here. The MCSA is a pre-requisite for the MCSE, and the way to obtain MCSA is given below

After you have got your MCSA, you can follow the path below to get your MCSE in BI

As you can see from the above images, you just have to write three exams for the upgrade path to your MCSE BI compared to the five if you are new to certification. Even though I was eligible for it, I decided to go through the longer path as I had got the codes to write the beta exams. I decided to write 4 of the 5 exams required for my MCSE in BI. 3 of them (463, 466, 467) were completely BI related while the other one (461) was more testing the SQL coding skills. As I had already starting working with SQL Server 2012, I was not that worried about the three BI exams. I consider my SQL skills also to be good (even though my TSQL skills are not that great) and since all the exams were free (because they were still in beta), I decided to try it anyway (else it would cost me $150 per exam). The only exam I didn’t write was 462 and the reason is something that will strike with most if not all of the BI guys – I had no clue on how how to administer the SQL Server side. I am more of the guy who would keep the phone numbers of a couple of DBAs in my hotkeys, and call them the moment I hear something on migration strategies, replication, mirroring, security, etc. Anyways, I scheduled the 4 beta exams in 2 weeks (as seats & dates were limited), and managed to pass all four of them. Even though I can’t disclose the exam content, I would give a couple of advices:-

1) Make sure that you read this book – Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012. This book is free and is the easiest way to make sure that you at least get acquainted with all the new features of SQL 2012.

2) As long as you have experience and are familiar with the SSIS, SSAS (including multi-dimensional, tabular, MDX, DAX) and SSRS, you just need to do some general reading which is what I did. Else you might need to pick up a few books and start preparing for those topics. I know that the tabular side is something that is completely new and is a challenge for most BI professionals that I know. I would recommend Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services: The BISM Tabular Model as a great guide to get you to that intermediate to expert level.

3) Make sure that you go to the Skills Measured tab of the exam page and at least read something on each point that is there. The internet has a lot of articles and you can find almost everything if you just search for them.

4) For me, the easiest way to remember things is by doing. If it is the same for you, make sure that you have installed the entire BI suite and do a couple of exercises. If that is not possible for you, try to hit the Virtual Labs.

Once I got to know that I passed for all four, I started preparing for my 70-462. I was really lax initially as I was more of the mentality that I don’t require to know all these in my daily job as a BI consultant. Once I got over that mind block, I started to appreciate the fact that at least now, I will have some basic understanding of what all these terms mean. My advice for this exam is

2) Make sure that you read and understand all that is written before you go forward. For example, there are different migration strategies and what you need to know is when to use which one. At the end, I was overwhelmed with all the information that I read and started to forget which one to use when. It might be a good idea to make small cards for each section, and put the different techniques in a tabular format.

3) Take all the practice tests in the CD accompanying the book. It is a great way to test your readiness for the exam.

4) Incase you are not buying the book, make sure that you go to the Skills Measured tab of the exam page and read as much as you can on each point that is there from the internet. Hopefully, this information would come in handy for those who are preparing for the exams. Meanwhile, let me start flaunting my new logo and certificate

And so, it has been an eventful 3 months since I reached the US, and I must say I am really settling in well to my new job and life here. Also, it has been a full two years since I started blogging and a big shout to all those lovely people out there who have been tolerating me and my “random thoughts”. I decided that it is time to start meeting all those great guys around me and what better way than to come and speak at an event near you? So just as an FYI, I would like to let you know that I am speaking at the following events :- 1)Charlotte SQL Server User Group : Thursday, April 19, 2012 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM http://apr2012cssug.eventbrite.com/2)SQL Saturday 118 (Madison, WI) : Saturday, April 21, 2012 from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM http://www.sqlsaturday.com/118/schedule.aspx3)SQL Saturday 130 (Jacksonville, FL) : Saturday, April 28, 2012 from 3:45 PM to 4:45 PM http://www.sqlsaturday.com/130/schedule.aspx4)SQL Saturday 129 (Rochester, NY) : Saturday, May 12, 2012 from 10:15 AM to 11:15 AM http://www.sqlsaturday.com/129/schedule.aspx Don’t forget to come and talk to me if you are attending any of these events, nothing makes me more happy than getting to know my readers better. Well, actually I am lying, a mug of beer makes me happier. But then there is no reason why we can’t have a talk over a beer, right?

For people who are connected with me, this would not come as much of a shock but yes, with this post comes a big change for me. By the time this post gets published, I would have already moved on from MindTree Ltd and started work at Mariner, my new work place. This would also mean that I have changed my base from London, UK to Charlotte, USA. I have lots of fond memories about MindTree and the decision to part was indeed very difficult. I will definitely miss my colleagues there and wish them all the very best for the future. At the same time, I am also very excited to join Mariner and look forward to working and learning from some of the most talented people I have known. Hopefully, I will also be able to contribute something. The new year has got me a new job and I am looking forward to a lot of things. I would like to end this post with a New Year wish that I had read sometime back, for all of my readers- I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you’ll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind. I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something. Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself!

To all my loving and caring readers who had been wondering where the hell did I get lost the last month, I have two good news for you. 1) I got hitched! Yes, I had been on a vacation last month and meanwhile managed to upgrade the status of Ms Neethu Sebastian from long-time girlfriend to wifey . The wedding was a lot of fun but hectic to the core (roughly translates to – enjoyed it but never doing it again). 2) My session got selected for SQLBits 9! Yes, I will be speaking at SQLBits 9 – Query across the Mersey. Just got the confirmation from the SQLBits team that my session – Fast Track to Spatial Reporting has been selected. The session would be held on Oct 1, Saturday from 8.10 to 9.10 am. Please click on the agenda below for more details. P.S. : If you are attending SQLBits 9 in Liverpool, make sure that you drop in and say a hi to me

Just around a week ago, I had blogged about completing one year of active participation in the Microsoft communities. Today morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see the following mail in my inbox I am deeply humbled (and a little worried on where I would place the MCCA logo on my already overcrowded sidebar ) on receiving this and hopefully, the access to complimentary resources will act as an extra motivational factor for me to continue my activities. Well, enough of the boring acceptance speech and time to flaunt my latest logo

Even though I had joined the MSDN Forums way back in 2009, I started using it regularly only from 2010 February. Looking back, it’s been a wonderful journey and I should say I have learned a lot from all of you wonderful guys contributing there. I didn’t do pretty bad myself as I raked in 6556 points from 1158 posts with 392 answers, all in the past one year. My activity at the forums inspired me to take my career to the next level and even my blogs and networking are a direct result of this. In the past few months, my activity has reduced considerably but I intend to catch up soon and make up for it. I am also planning on getting more involved in the user group activities and taking some sessions, but more on it later.

To all those folks who have been wondering where I disappeared – I just relocated to London from Bangalore this Sunday, 25 July! I was extremely busy in the preparations and hence couldn’t blog much and by the looks of it, the next 2 weeks also looks pretty hectic. I have to find an accommodation somewhere in London within the next 12 days, my office is in 288 Bishopsgate (near the Liverpool Street Station). So if any of you guys know a decent place for a single guy, please do pitch in, I would appreciate it 🙂 Hopefully, I would be meeting a lot of you who are in London. Till then, adieus amigos.

Whoah! So finally I managed to clear my Microsoft Certified IT Professional exam in SQL Server 2008 BI after procrastinating it for almost 3 months. Well, ever since I cleared my MCTS exam in SQL Server 2008 BI, I was itching to get my hands on the the next title and so I scheduled my exam sometime in the first week of March. But as the doomsday appeared, I sort of started getting apprehensions whether I was actually prepared to write the exam as I had done no extra preparations (come on, there was no official book specified for the exam like the MCTS one. And no, don’t even start calling the reference books specified in the home page as official books) and I had no clue what sort of questions would be asked. Anyways, finally got the guts to write it yesterday and I cleared :). Now speaking about the exams, I would have loved to discuss the questions but then there is a non-disclosure agreement because of which I would not be able to divulge the questions, but then I will try to give a general feel of the exams. MCTS (70-448) This exam can be cleared by anyone who has got a decent 1 year hands-on experience in the tool. Most of the questions are related to development of the solution, and on top of that, the official book – MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-448): Microsoft SQL Server 2008-Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance is pretty much detailed. My view is that even if you don’t have the experience to back you, studying the book will definitely help you pass the exam. Number of questions were around 36 and data mining related questions were few and simple. Mostly it was centred around SSIS, SSAS and SSRS. As for my preparations, I had around 3 years of experience and just read the complete book as I would read a novel in 3 days and wrote the exam. Mission cleared! MCITP (70-452) The sort of questions which were asked in this exam were completely design related. So if you have been designing BI solutions for 2+ years, this should be a breeze for you. Unfortunately for me, I had been designing only the OLAP part in my company and hence had to ponder a bit more in the SSIS part. Some of the questions really made me think, and even after that, I would be stuck with 2 answers. But the SSAS and SSRS parts were pretty decent which makes me re-affirm what I said before – you would find the parts easy if you have sufficient experience in it. In the end, I scored around 90% in the sections related to SSIS, SSAS and SSRS, but scored a 0 in the data mining part. There were only a few questions related to data mining, so guys, no need to get scared if you don’t have experience in data mining like me. Worst case, you can still pass after getting a zero in data mining like I did ;). Number of questions were around 66. As for my preparations, I would say a bit of extra reading in SSIS and of course yes, reading tits and bits from my favourite SSAS guide – Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Unleashed for maybe 3 days. Mission cleared! Now I can finally display the MCITP logo in my profile 😀